In the past two seasons as Cleveland’s offensive coordinator, Daboll’s offense has ranked 32nd and 29th in the NFL in total yards, and 29th and 31st in points scored.

But forget about those numbers, quarterback Chad Pennington said Monday, because there’s a lot more to Daboll than his struggling Cleveland offense.

Daboll was the quarterbacks coach with the Jets from 2007-08, and worked with Pennington during the 2007 season. Even though it was Pennington’s eighth season in the NFL, he said he learned a number of invaluable lessons from Daboll, who previously coached both defense and offense in a seven-year stint with the Patriots, winning three Super Bowls.

“A lot of the coverage knowledge that I have, and understanding defenses, comes from Brian,” Pennington said. “The year I spent with him, I just learned so much about how defenses attack offenses, and all of the nuances of coverage that I didn’t understand before.”

Daboll will be the team’s offensive coordinator, but will almost certainly help re-coach Chad Henne, who was benched twice last year.

“He made me a better quarterback,” Pennington said, “and helped make me become a quarterback who not only understood what I was doing, but how to do it, and why – why we are running certain plays and why we were attacking certain coverages the way we were.”

Daboll is only 35, just 14 months older than Pennington, but he’s had some great mentors along the way. A two-year starter at the University of Rochester, Daboll got his start in football as a graduate assistant under Nick Saban at Michigan State in 1998-99. Josh McDaniels also was a graduate assistant on Saban’s staff.

When Saban left for LSU, Daboll and McDaniels were both hired by Bill Belichick and the Patriots, where they got to work under Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel.

After two years as a defensive assistant and five years as a receivers coach, Daboll left with Eric Mangini to become the Jets’ quarterbacks coach. With the Jets he worked with offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, whose offense resembles the same one Cam Cameron ran in San Diego and Baltimore, and is a descendent of Don Coryell’s vertical attack from the 1970s.

Pennington said to expect Daboll’s offense to blend certain Weis/Belichick/McDaniels concepts with Schottenheimer/Cameron concepts, though it won’t be radically different from the offense Dan Henning ran for three years in Miami.

“I think he’s taken what he likes from the New England style of offense, and what he’s liked from Brian Schottenheimer,” Pennington said. “I think it’s going to be a combination of things – things that he liked, and things that he felt really good about how to attack a defense.”

“There may be some things that carry over from Dan’s system, which I think is a positive,” he added, “so that everything is not totally new. And then there’s obviously going to be some new concepts and some new ways of doing things, the way Brian wants them to be done, and I think it’s certainly a positive step for the Dolphins.”

Pennington said Dolphins fans “should be excited about the possibilities,” and that Daboll, nearly half Henning’s age (68), could provide the offensive meeting rooms with a jolt of energy.

“He’s a very energetic coach,” Pennington said. “As a player, when you see the knowledge that the guy has, I think age is not important.”

Meanwhile, Pennington said that Daboll’s presence in Miami won’t factor into his decision about whether or not to make a comeback from his fourth shoulder surgery, because he’s already made up his mind – he’s going for it.

“I’m going to make a run at it, and the reason I am is that I still have that fire inside,” Pennington said. “I have to go out and see if my shoulder can respond. If it doesn’t respond, I can live with that. But if it does, or it could have responded and I didn’t give it a chance, I don’t think I could live with that.”

Pennington, who twice has won the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year award, suffered a dislocated right shoulder and torn capsule in the Week 10 win over Tennessee. It was his first play back after suffering the same exact injury in September 2009, and may have been the last play of his career.

He had his fourth career shoulder surgery in December, because he at least wants to be able to play golf and go fishing and have fun with his three young boys.

“I really don’t think there’s any negatives,” he said.

Pennington said he is currently rehabbing at the Dolphins’ facility, and will go back to see Dr. James Andrews in the beginning of February. Pennington has no idea if he will be able to rehab his shoulder to the point of being able to take a hit from an NFL defender, but he’s giving it a shot.

“It’s not a cliché – it’s truly an every day, week-by-week process,” he said. “I’m taking a step in faith here, and just going to see what happens.”

Pennington, a free agent this summer, said he does not know if the Dolphins will invite him back next year, and would look for employment with one of the other 31 NFL teams if they don’t.

“If they don’t (want me back), it certainly won’t hurt my feelings,” he said. “I understand the situation, I understand the history behind it. I’m certainly not expecting anything from the Dolphins. … And if it doesn’t (work out), it’s not the end of the world, because I know I’ve done everything I could possibly do.”

Archives

Categories

Trackbacks

[…] Pennington said Monday that he plans to return for another season in 2011, according to the Palm Beach Post.Our View: He’ll be a free agent, and he’s coming off his fourth shoulder surgery, so he […]

[…] make a run at it, and the reason I am is that I still have that fire inside,” Pennington told the Palm Beach Post on Monday. “I have to go out and see if my shoulder can respond. If it doesn’t respond, I can […]

[…] make a run at it, and the reason I am is that I still have that fire inside,” Pennington told the Palm Beach Post on Monday. “I have to go out and see if my shoulder can respond. If it doesn’t respond, I can […]

[…] told Palm Beach Post reporter Ben Volin that Brian Daboll had a major impact on his development as a quarterback and was influential in teaching Pennington how to read a defense, instruction Dolphins starter Chad […]

[…] told Palm Beach Post reporter Ben Volin that Brian Daboll had a major impact on his development as a quarterback and was influential in teaching Pennington how to read a defense, instruction Dolphins starter Chad […]